http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history
Dec 27, 1979: Soviets take over in Afghanistan
In an attempt to stabilize the turbulent political situation in Afghanistan, the Soviet Union sends 75,000 troops to enforce the installation of Babrak Karmal as the new leader of the nation. The new government and the imposing Soviet presence, however, had little success in putting down antigovernment rebels. Thus began nearly 10 years of an agonizing, destructive, and ultimately fruitless Soviet military intervention in Afghanistan.
Ironically, Karmal overthrew and murdered another Afghan communist, Hafizullah Amin, to take power. Amin's government became unpopular and unstable after it attempted to install a harsh communist regime, declared one-party rule and abolished the Afghan constitution. Muslims in the nation rejected his rule and formed a rebel force, the Mujahideen. When it became apparent that Amin could not control the rebellion, Soviet troops intervened and put a puppet ruler, Karmal, into power. For the Soviets, political turbulence in this bordering nation, which was viewed by some officials as a potentially useful ally pursuing its interests in the Middle East, was unacceptable.
The Soviet intervention cost Russia dearly. The seemingly endless civil war in Afghanistan resulted in thousands of Soviet dead and untold monetary costs. It also brought an abrupt end to the era of détente between the United States and the Soviet Union that began during the Nixon years. In response to the Soviet intervention, President Jimmy Carter withdrew the SALT II agreement from consideration by Congress. The treaty, which had been signed in June 1979, was designed to establish parity in nuclear delivery vehicles between the United States and the Soviet Union. Carter also halted grain shipments to the Soviet Union and ordered a U.S. boycott of the 1980 Olympics that were to be held in Moscow.
Dec 27, 2007: Pakistani politician Benazir Bhutto assassinated
On this day in 2007, Benazir Bhutto, a former Pakistani prime minister and the first democratically elected female leader of a Muslim country, is assassinated at age 54 in the Pakistani city of Rawalpindi. A polarizing figure at home and abroad, Bhutto had spent three decades struggling to stay afloat in the murky waters of Pakistani politics. To many of her supporters, she represented the strongest hope for democratic and egalitarian leadership in a country unhinged by political corruption and Islamic extremism.
Born in 1953 to a wealthy landowning family, Bhutto grew up in the privileged world of Pakistan’s political elite, receiving degrees from Harvard and Oxford. Her father, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, founded the populist-leaning Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) in 1967. He then served as president and prime minister from 1971 to 1977, when he was ousted in a bloodless military coup led by General Mohammad Zia ul-Haq and charged with authorizing a political opponent’s murder.
Her father’s overthrow and subsequent execution in April 1979 thrust a young Benazir Bhutto into the political spotlight. She and her mother, Nusrat, whom she succeeded in 1982 as the PPP’s chairperson, spent several years in and out of detention for protesting his arrest and campaigning against General Zia. In August 1988, Zia died in a plane crash; three months later, Bhutto won the general election and formed a government, becoming the first woman—and, at 35, the youngest person—to head a Muslim state in modern times. Dismissed in 1990 after less than half a term as prime minister, she was reelected in 1993 and served again until 1996. Both times, she was removed from office by the sitting president—Ghulam Ishaq Khan in 1990 and Farooq Leghari in 1996—amid charges of corruption and incompetent governance.
After her second dismissal from office, Bhutto and her husband, Asif Ali Zardari, faced allegations of various forms of financial misconduct, including accepting multimillion-dollar kickbacks and laundering money through Swiss banks. Zardari spent eight years in prison, while Bhutto lived in exile in London and Dubai with the couple’s three children. In 2007, under pressure from Bhutto’s supporters within the U.S. government, President Pervez Musharraf granted amnesty to Bhutto, Zardari and other Pakistani politicians with pending graft charges. On October 18 of that year, despite a spate of death threats from Islamic militants, Bhutto returned to Pakistan with plans to participate in the 2008 general election. On the day of her arrival, she narrowly escaped a suicide bomb attack on her convoy that killed at least 136 people and injured more than 450.
On December 27, 2007, as Bhutto was waving to a crowd at a PPP rally in Rawalpindi, a gunman opened fire on her bulletproof vehicle. A bomb then exploded near the car, killing more than 20 people and wounding 100 others, including Bhutto. She was pronounced dead later that night and buried the next day in her hometown of Gardi Khuda Bakhsh, next to her father's grave. The exact cause of her death remains in dispute: A subsequent investigation by Britain's Scotland Yard ruled that Bhutto died of head injuries caused by the force of the explosion, while the PPP maintained that she died from gunshot wounds.
Bhutto’s death sparked widespread violence across Pakistan, with riots and demonstrations leading to violent police crackdowns. The political turmoil caused international fears of instability in a nuclear-armed nation already embroiled in a fight against Islamic extremists. In the weeks and months following Bhutto's death, Pakistani moderates and Western leaders waited anxiously to see who would emerge as her successor. Zardari, who had taken the helm of the PPP after his wife’s assassination, was elected president of Pakistan in September 2008.
In the month following Bhutto’s murder, the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency and Pakistani officials named Baitullah Mehsud, a Pakistani militant with links to al-Qaeda, as the mastermind behind the assassination. Mehsud, who denied the charge, was killed in a U.S. drone attack in August 2009.
Dec 27, 1831: HMS Beagle departs England
British naturalist Charles Darwin sets out from Plymouth, England, aboard the HMS Beagle on a five-year surveying expedition of the southern Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Visiting such diverse places as the Galapagos Islands and New Zealand, Darwin acquired an intimate knowledge of the flora, fauna, and geology of many lands. This information proved invaluable in the development of his theory of evolution, first put forth in his groundbreaking scientific work of 1859, On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection.
Darwin's theory argued that organisms gradually evolve through a process he called "natural selection." In natural selection, organisms with genetic variations that suit their environment tend to propagate more descendants than organisms of the same species that lack the variation, thus influencing the overall genetic makeup of the species. Most scientists quickly embraced the theory that solved so many puzzles of biological science, but orthodox Christians condemned the work as heresy. Controversy over Darwin's ideas deepened with the publication of The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex (1871), in which he presented evidence of man's evolution from apes.
By the time of Darwin's death in 1882, his theory of evolution had become generally accepted. In honor of his scientific work, he was buried in Westminster Abbey beside kings, queens, and other illustrious figures from British history. Subsequent developments in genetics and molecular biology led to modifications in accepted evolutionary theory, but Darwin's ideas remain central to the field.
Dec 27, 1978: Spanish king ratifies democratic constitution
Following its approval in a national referendum, King Juan Carlos ratifies Spain's first democratic constitution in nearly five decades.
Juan Carlos' grandfather was Alfonso XIII, the last ruling monarch of Spain, who was forced into exile in 1931 after Spain was declared a republic. Born in Italy in 1938, Juan Carlos returned to Spain in 1955 under the invitation of General Francisco Franco, dictator of Spain since 1936. In 1969, Franco designated Juan Carlos his successor. In 1975, Juan Carlos became Spain's acting head of state after Franco conceded that he was too ill too govern. The 83-year-old dictator had been suffering serious health problems for nearly a year. Three weeks after Juan Carlos assumed power, Franco died of a heart attack. Two days later, on November 22, Juan Carlos was crowned king.
Despite having pledged loyalty to Franco's authoritarian regime, King Juan Carlos immediately began a transition to democracy in Spain. During the next decade, he presided over a period of extensive democratization in Spain.
Dec 27, 1918: Poles take up arms against German troops in Poznan
In the wake of the German defeat, members of the People's Guard, the Polish military organization, joined by a number of volunteers—many of them veterans of the Great War—take up arms against the occupying German army in the major industrial city of Poznan.
At the beginning of World War I, close to three-quarters of Poland was under the control of Russia; the remainder of the country was ruled by Germany and Austria-Hungary. The start of war between Russia and the Central Powers, then, saw Poles fighting for both sides. With the downfall of the Russian Empire in March 1917, the Bolsheviks recognized Russian-held Poland's right to autonomy, and a provisional government was established in Paris. By later that year, however, Germany was in complete control of the country.
After the defeat of the Central Powers, the road to Polish statehood seemed to be clearing. A Polish republic was declared soon after the armistice, but the boundaries of the new state had not yet been set by the Treaty of Versailles. Germany was loath to cede any territory in defeat, and still considered much of the country, including Poznan and the surrounding areas, its property.
An incendiary speech by the well-known Polish pianist and politician Ignacy Paderewski and subsequent counteractions by the occupying German army may have sparked the beginning of the uprising on December 27, 1918. By January 15, the rebels had managed to take control of the city, taking advantage of the weakened state of the German army, which, like the entire German nation, was demoralized by defeat and distracted by growing internal conflict. On February 16, as part of the German-Allied ceasefire, France forced German recognition of the Polish army as an Allied force. The high command in Poznan subsequently submitted to the authority of the new Polish government, based in Warsaw.
Dec 27, 1932: Radio City Music Hall opens
At the height of the Great Depression, thousands turn out for the opening of Radio City Music Hall, a magnificent Art Deco theater in New York City. Radio City Music Hall was designed as a palace for the people, a place of beauty where ordinary people could see high-quality entertainment. Since its 1932 opening, more than 300 million people have gone to Radio City to enjoy movies, stage shows, concerts, and special events.
Radio City Music Hall was the brainchild of the billionaire John D. Rockefeller, Jr., who decided to make the theater the cornerstone of the Rockefeller Complex he was building in a formerly derelict neighborhood in midtown Manhattan. The theater was built in partnership with the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) and designed by Donald Deskey. The result was an Art Deco masterpiece of elegance and grace constructed out of a diverse variety of materials, including aluminum, gold foil, marble, permatex, glass, and cork. Geometric ornamentation is found throughout the theater, as is Deskey's central theme of the "Progress of Man." The famous Great Stage, measuring 60 feet wide and 100 feet long, resembles a setting sun. Its sophisticated system of hydraulic-powered elevators allowed spectacular effects in staging, and many of its original mechanisms are still in use today.
In its first four decades, Radio City Music Hall alternated as a first-run movie theater and a site for gala stage shows. More than 700 films have premiered at Radio City Music Hall since 1933. In the late 1970s, the theater changed its format and began staging concerts by popular music artists. The Radio City Music Hall Christmas Spectacular, which debuted in 1933, draws more than a million people annually. The show features the high-kicking Rockettes, a precision dance troupe that has been a staple at Radio City since the 1930s.
In 1999, the Hall underwent a seven-month, $70 million restoration. Today, Radio City Music Hall remains the largest indoor theater in the world.
Dec 27, 1904: Peter Pan, by James Barrie, opens in London
On this day in 1904, the play Peter Pan, by James Barrie, opens at the Duke of York's Theater in London.
Barrie was born in 1860 and studied at the University of Edinburgh. He worked as a reporter for the Nottingham Journal for two years after college. He moved to London in 1885 and became a freelance writer. His first collection of sketches, Auld Licht Idylls, was published in 1888 and became a success, followed by an account of his days working in newspapers, called When a Man's Single. He published a collection of stories in 1889 and a bestselling novel, The Little Minister, in 1891.
The Little Minister was dramatized in 1897, and Barrie shifted his focus from prose to drama, enjoying a series of successes. In 1904, he wrote Peter Pan. Although he wrote many other plays, few are still performed today, and none had the staying power of Peter Pan. In 1913, he was made a baronet and in 1922 received the Order of Merit. He became president of the Society of Authors in 1928 and chancellor of the University of Edinburgh in 1930. Barrie died in London in 1937.
Today also is the day that Johannes Kepler was born, way back in 1571. He is best known for proving that the planets revolve around the sun, a discovery that undeniably helped humanity forward in the eternal quest for more knowledge, and a greater and deeper understanding of our world, and our role in it.
"I much prefer the sharpest criticism of a single intelligent man to the thoughtless approval of the masses."
“The diversity of the phenomena of nature is so great, and the treasures hidden in the heavens so rich, precisely in order that the human mind shall never be lacking in fresh nourishment.”
“Nature uses as little as possible of anything.”
“So long as the mother, Ignorance, lives, it is not safe for Science, the offspring, to divulge the hidden cause of things”
“I demonstrate by means of philosophy that the earth is round, and is inhabited on all sides; that it is insignificantly small, and is borne through the stars.”
~Johannes Kepler, December 27, 1571 - November 15, 1630
Here's a more detailed look at events that transpired on this date throughout history:
418 - [Etalius] begins his reign as Catholic Pope
537 - The Hagia Sophia is inaugurated by the Emperor
Justinian
1437 - Albrecht II von Habsburg becomes king of Bohemia
1503 - Battle at Garigliano] Spanish army under G Cordoba
beats France
1512 - The Spanish Crown issues the Laws of Burgos,
governing the conduct of settlers with regards to native Indians in the New
World.
1521 - "Zwickauer profeten" appear in Wittenberg
1657 - The Flushing Remonstrance is signed.
1679 - Dutch troops capture Madurees prince Trunudjojo in
Java
1703 - England & Portugal sign Methuen-Asiento-trade
agreement
1741 - Prussian forces took Olmutz, Czechoslovakia
1814 - Destruction of schooner Carolina, the last of
Commodore Daniel Patterson's make-shift fleet that fought a series of delaying
actions that contributed to Andrew Jackson's victory at the Battle of New
Orleans.
1825 - 1st public railroad using steam locomotive completed
in England
1831 - HMS Beagle/Charles Darwin departs England for South
America
1836 - Worst English avalanche kills 8 of 15 buried (Lewes
Sussex)
1845 - Ether 1st used in childbirth in US, Jefferson, Ga
1850 - Hawaiian Fire Dept established
1862 - Battle of Chickasaw Bluffs, MS (Chickasaw Bayou)
1862 - Battle of Elizabethtown, KY
1867 - Ontario & Quebec legislatures hold 1st meeting
Naturalist Charles DarwinNaturalist Charles Darwin 1871 -
World's 1st cat show (Crystal Palace, London)
1884 - Netherlands recognizes King Leopold II's Congo Free
State
1887 - Start of Sherlock Holmes "Adventure of Blue
Carbuncle" (BG)
1892 - Foundation Stone of Cathedral of St John laid (NYC)
1892 - N C Biddle beats Livingston 4-0 in 1st black college
football game
1897 - Stanley Cup: Montreal Victorias beat Ottawa Capitals,
15-2
1900 - Carrie Nation's 1st public smashing of a bar (Carey
Hotel, Wichita KS)
1903 - "Sweet Adaline," a barbershop quartet
favorite, is 1st sung
1904 - Duke of York Theatre opens in London (1st musical
Peter Pan)
1904 - W B Yeats/Lady Gregory's "On Baile's
Strand," premieres in Dublin
1905 - M A Noble scores 281 (369 mins, 21 fours) NSW v
Victoria
1906 - 1st annual meeting of American Sociological Society,
Providence, RI
1918 - The Great Poland Uprising against the Germans begins.
1919 - Red Sox owner Harry Frazee announces they will deal
any player except Harry Hooper, Hooper is sent to the White Sox after 1920
season
1923 - Unsuccessful attempt on prince-regent Hirohito of
Japan
1926 - Depot Square in Bronx renamed Botanical Square
1926 - Latkin Square in Bronx named for 1st US Jewish
soldier to die in WW I
1927 - Jerome Kern/Oscar Hammerstein II's "Show
Boat," premieres in NYC
1927 - Philip Barry's "Paris Bound," premieres in
NYC
Soviet Union Premier Joseph StalinSoviet Union Premier
Joseph Stalin 1927 - Stalin's faction wins All-Union Congress in USSR, Trotsky
expelled
1932 - Radio City Music Hall opens (NYC)
1934 - 1st youth hostel in US opens (Northfield, Mass)
1934 - Shah of Persia declares Persia now Iran
1934 - Vernon Duke & James Hanley's musical premieres in
NYC
1937 - Bradman scores 246 SA v Queensland, 364 mins, 20
fours
1937 - German immigration officials with no explanation bar
Juan Carlos Zabala (Arg), 1932 Olympic marathon champion, from entering Germany
1937 - Mae West performs Adam & Eve skit that gets her
banned from NBC radio
1939 - 1st American skimobiles (North Conway, NH)
1939 - Between 20,000 & 40,000 die in magnitude 8 quake
(Erzincam Turkey)
1939 - Earthquake in Turkey, about 50,000 die
1941 - Japan bombs Manila even though it was declared an
"open city"
1941 - Siberia: Dmitri Sjostakovitsj completes his 7th
Symphony
1942 - 1st Japanese women camp (Ambarawa) goes into use
1942 - NFL Pro Bowl: NFL All-Stars beats Washington 17-14
Actress Mae WestActress Mae West 1942 - The Union of
Pioneers of Yugoslavia is founded.
1943 - France transfers most of her powers in Lebanon to
Lebanese government
1943 - German warship "Scharnhorst" sinks in
Barents Sea
1943 - Montgomery discusses Overlord with Eisenhower &
Bedell Smith
1944 - Greece: British premier Churchill flies back to
London
1945 - Arthur Laurent's "Home of the Brave,"
premieres in NYC
1945 - International Monetary Fund established-World Bank
founded
1945 - The World Bank was created with the signing of an
agreement by 28 nations.
1947 - 1st "Howdy Doody Show," (Puppet Playhouse),
telecast on NBC
1949 - Queen Juliana (Netherlands) grants sovereignty to
Indonesia
1949 - United States of Indonesia gains independence from
Netherlands
1951 - 40th Davis Cup: Australia beats USA in Sydney (3-2)
1953 - Detroit Lions beat Cleveland Browns 17-16 in NFL
championship game
1954 - "Saint of Bleecker Street" opens at
Broadway Theater NYC for 92 perfs
1954 - Gian Carlo Menotti's opera "Saint,"
premieres in NYC
1956 - 45th Davis Cup: Australia beats USA in Adelaide (5-0)
1956 - Bill Sharman (Boston) ends NBA free throw streak of
55 games
1959 - Balt Colts beat NY Giants 31-16 in NFL championship
game
1960 - France performs nuclear test
1961 - "Subways Are for Sleeping" opens at St
James Theater NYC for 205 perfs
1961 - Belgium & Congo resume diplomatic relations
1961 - Styne/Comden/Green's musical "Subways are for
Sleeping," premieres
1962 - 28th Heisman Trophy Award: Terry Baker, Oregon State
(QB)
1964 - Cleveland Browns beat Balt Colts 27-0 in NFL
championship game
1966 - "At the Drop of Another Hat" opens at Booth
Theater NYC for 105 perfs
1968 - Apollo 8 returns to Earth
1968 - China PR performs nuclear test at Lop Nor PRC
1970 - "Hello, Dolly!" closes at St James Theater
NYC after 2844 performances
1972 - "Purlie" opens at Billy Rose Theater NYC
for 14 performances
1972 - Belgium recognizes German DR
1972 - LA Kings start Islanders on 12 game losing streak
1972 - New North Korean constitution comes into effect
1973 - LA Dodgers announce night games will start at 7:30
instead of 8
1974 - 40th Heisman Trophy Award: Archie Griffin, Ohio State
(RB)
1974 - Dear Abby show ends run on CBS radio after 11 years
1974 - FSLN seizes government hostages at a private Managua
party
1974 - USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk
USSR
1975 - Explosion at Chasnala Colliery collapses drowning 350
(Dhanbad India)
1976 - Albania constitution goes into effect
1978 - King Juan Carlos ratifies Spain's 1st democratic
constitution
1978 - Spain becomes a democracy after 40 years of
dictatorship.
1979 - "Knots Landing," premieres on CBS-TV
1979 - Red Army beats NY Rangers 5-2 at Madison Square
Garden
1979 - Soviet troops invade Afghanistan, Pres Hafizullah
Amin overthrown
1980 - Calvin Murphy (Rockets) begins longest NBA free throw
streak of 78
1981 - Lillee becomes the leading wicket-taker in Test
Crickets with 310
1981 - Oiler Wayne Gretzky becomes fastest NHLer to get 100
pts (38th game)
1981 - USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern
Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
1982 - Imran Khan 8-60 to bring innings victory v India at
Karachi
1983 - Pope John Paul II pardons man who shot him (Mehmet
Ali Agca)
1983 - Propane gas fire devastated 16 blocks of Buffalo
1984 - Padres' free agent pitcher Ed Whitson signs with NY
Yankees
1985 - Terrorists kill 20 & wound 110 attacking El Al at
Rome & Vienna airports, President Reagan blames Libyan leader Moammar
Gadhafi
1986 - "Les Miserables" opens at Kennedy Center,
Wash DC
1986 - 10th Soap Opera Digest Poll Awards - Young &
Restless wins
1987 - Steve Largent sets all-time NFL record for career
catches when he catches his 752nd pass
1987 - USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern
Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
1988 - Bulgaria stops jamming Radio Free Europe after more
than 3 decades
1989 - Oregon begins taking bids on NBA games
1991 - "Carol Burnett Show" last airs on CBS-TV
1991 - Bengals hire Dave Shula as youngest NFL coach (32)
1991 - Chuck Knox retires as Seattle Seahawk coach
1992 - "3 From Brooklyn" closes at Helen Hayes
Theater NYC after 45 perfs
1992 - "Les Miserables" opens at Ostregaswerks,
Copenhagen
1992 - "Tommy Tune Tonite! Song & Dance Act"
opens at Gershwin NYC for 10 per
1992 - 13th United Negro College Fund raises $11,000,000
Singer Harry Connick JrSinger Harry Connick Jr 1992 - Harry
Connick Jr is caught with 9mm gun in NY's JFK airport
1992 - Nancy Sheehan wins LPGA Wendy's 3-Tour Challenge Golf
Tournament
1993 - "Candles, Snow, & Mistletoe" opens at
Palace Theater NYC for 7 perfs
1993 - Dow-Jones hits record 3792.93
1995 - Boon completes his 21st Test Cricket century (110 v
SL, MCG)
1996 - Carquest Bowl 7: Miami beats Virginia, 31-21
1996 - Taliban forces retake the strategic Bagram air base
which solidifies their buffer zone around Kabul.
1997 - Protestant paramilitary leader Billy Wright is
assassinated in Northern Ireland.
2001 - The People's Republic of China is granted permanent
normal trade relations with the United States.
2002 - Two truck bombs kill 72 and wound 200 at the
pro-Moscow headquarters of the Chechen government in Grozny, Chechnya.
2004 - Radiation from an explosion on the magnetar SGR
1806-20 reaches Earth. It is the brightest extrasolar event known to have been
witnessed on the planet.
2007 - Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto is
assassinated by a suicide bomber.
2012 - NASA unveils plans to capture a 500 ton asteroid in
2025
1703 - The Methuen Treaty was signed between Portugal and England, giving preference to the import of Portuguese wines into England. 1831 - Charles Darwin set out on a voyage to the Pacific aboard the HMS Beagle. Darwin's discoveries during the voyage helped him form the basis of his theories on evolution. 1845 - Dr. Crawford Williamson Long used anesthesia for childbirth for the first time. The event was the delivery of his own child in Jefferson, GA. 1900 - Carrie Nation staged her first raid on a saloon at the Carey Hotel in Wichita, KS. She broke each and every one of the liquor bottles that could be seen. 1904 - James Barrie's play "Peter Pan" premiered in London. 1927 - Leon Trotsky was expelled from the Communist Party. 1938 - The first skimobile course in America opened in North Conway, NH. 1945 - The World Bank was created with an agreement signed by 28 nations. 1947 - The children's television program "Howdy Doody," hosted by Bob Smith, made its debut on NBC. 1949 - Queen Juliana of the Netherlands granted sovereignty to Indonesia after more than 300 years of Dutch rule. 1951 - In Cincinnati, OH, a Crosley automobile, with a steering wheel on the right side, became the first vehicle of its kind to be placed in service for mail delivery. 1965 - The BP oil rig Sea Gem capsized in the North Sea, with the loss of 13 lives. 1968 - "The Breakfast Club" signed off for the last time on ABC radio, after 35 years on the air. 1971 - Snoopy, Charlie Brown, Linus, Lucy and Woodstock of Charles Schulz’ "Peanuts" comic strip were on the cover of "Newsweek" magazine. 1978 - Spain adopted a new constitution and became a democracy after 40 years of dictatorship. 1979 - Soviet forces seized control of Afghanistan. Babrak Karmal succeeded President Hafizullah Amin, who was overthrown and executed. 1985 - Palestinian guerrillas opened fire inside the Rome and Vienna airports. A total of twenty people were killed, including five of the attackers, who were slain by police and security personnel. 1985 - Dian Fossey, an American naturalist, was found murdered at a research station in Rawanda. 1992 - The U.S. shot down an Iraqi fighter jet during what the Pentagon described as a confrontation between a pair of Iraqi warplanes and U.S. F-16 jets in U.N.-restricted airspace over southern Iraq. 1996 - Muslim fundamentalist Taliban forces retook the strategic air base of Bagram, solidifying their buffer zone around Kabul, the Afghanistan capital. 1997 - In Northern Ireland, Billy Wright was assassinated. He was imprisoned as a Protestant paramilitary leader. 2000 - Mario Lemeiux (Pittsburgh Penguins) returned to the National Hockey League (NHL) as a player after over 3 years of retirement. He was the first owner-player in the modern era of pro sports. Lemieux had purchased the Pittsburgh Penguins during his retirement from playing. 2001 - U.S. President George W. Bush granted China permanent normal trade status with the United States. 2002 - North Korea ordered U.N. nuclear inspectors to leave the country and said that it would restart a laboratory capable of producing plutonium for nuclear weapons. 2002 - Clonaid announced the birth of the first cloned human baby. The baby had been born December 26. 2002 - In Chechnya, at least 40 people were killed when suicide bombers attacked the administartion of Grozny.
1831 Darwin began his voyage aboard the HMS Beagle. 1900 Prohibitionist Carry Nation smashed her first saloon. 1932 Radio City Music Hall in New York City opened. 1945 The World Bank was created with an agreement signed by 28 nations. 1949 The Netherlands transferred sovereignty to Indonesia after more than 300 years of Dutch rule. 1979 The Soviet Union took control of Afghanistan, installing Afghan politician Babrak Karmal as president. 1996 Rwanda's first genocide trial opened for the 1994 slaughter of 800,000 Tutsis. 2001 President Bush permanently normalized trade relations with China. 2001 The U.S. announced plans to hold Taliban and al-Qaeda prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
The following links are to web sites that were used to complete this blog entry:
http://www.historyorb.com/today/events.php
http://on-this-day.com/onthisday/thedays/alldays/dec27.htm
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history
http://www.infoplease.com/dayinhistory
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